Effectively a Stegodon on its own, this card's value lies mainly in its Battlecry. A 12/6 for 4 mana is an extremely cost-efficient and highly threatening presence that cannot be ignored, as an Omega Defender left unchecked can inflict massive damage or kill a much more valuable high-cost minion. However, as this effect only activates at 10 mana, the opponent is likely to have a removal card or silence to answer it. This card's high threat and low mana cost in the late game can thus be used to bait out such effects from the opponent, leaving them with fewer answers to your high-value minions later on.

According to Senior Game Designer Peter Whalen, Omega Defender is not classified as a Mech because the card is intended to represent the goblin pilot inside, not the mechanical suit itself.[1] During some internal playtesting, however, Blizzard suspected that Omega Defender's original card art (seen below) could be confused for a Mech, which would sometimes lead to misplays. Community feedback following the card's public announcement confirmed these suspicions, and in the interest of clarity and assuring that players did not run in to the same confusion upon release, Blizzard made the decision to change the card's artwork on July 26, 2018 to better emphasize the goblin pilot. The change was made purely for gameplay reasons and had nothing to do with the quality of the original art.[2] Omega Defender's original card art was eventually reused in the Rise of Shadows expansion for the Omega Devastator card.

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